no boot devices-g3 ibook

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zephead99

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I just picked up a 600mhz g3 ibook from a friend of mine for cheap because he was having trouble with it. So far I have been unable to get it to boot from both the internal HD and the cd-rom drive. When booted with no options the system remains at a blank gray screen for about 2 minutes and then changes to the flashing ? icon. I've tried the C option to boot from cd and when booting with the option key no boot devices are listed. I don't have access to a firewire drive so I'm unable to try that. Any ideas on what the problem could be? I read about the logic board problem and this unit's serial number matches the affected group but I believe the replacement period has passed and I'm not sure that this is a symptom of a failed logic board.
 
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If you are trying to boot from a CD, all you have to do is hold down "C" as it is booting up. There is no reason or need to hold down the "Option" key for this boot method.
I would doubt that it is the logic board just yet, as it might be a bad HD, but it is really to difficult to tell until you are 100% positive it will not boot.
 
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zephead99

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I've tried booting with "C" with both the osX and os9 discs in the drive and neither will boot. The system acts just as it does if there is no disc in on start up. By that I mean I get the blank gray screen for a minute or two and then the flashing ? .
 

rman


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Here is what he is asking. Insert the CD in the drive, reboot the system. Hold down the c key and continue to hold down the key until you hear the CD drive making noise.
 
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zephead99

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The only way for me to insert a cd into the drive is by using the emergency eject hole on the drive, neither holding the mouse button on startup or the eject button works. After getting the osX cd in the drive I rebooted the system again and began holding down the C button. The drive initially half spins up but then does not boot any further, it remains at a gray screen.
 
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There might be a problem with the CD drive, but try resetting the PRAM first. To do this, follow these steps:

1. If the computer is on, turn it off.
2. Reset the power manager by simultaneously pressing and then releasing Shift-Control-Option-Power on the keyboard. Do not press the fn (Function) key while using this combination of keystrokes.
3. Wait 5 seconds.
4. Press the Power button to restart the iBook computer.
 
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zephead99

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I forgot to mention I had already tried resetting the PRAM last night, but after trying it again today I'm still getting the same results.
 
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TonyJ

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I had my HD go bad in my iBook G3. When it did, the iBook would not boot from any device. No CD, No external CD-ROM, no external HD. Once I replaced the internal HD all was well again. YMMV, but that was my experience.
 
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zephead99

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I was thinking the same thing initally and now that you said that I checked again, it doesn't sound like the HD actually ever spins up. I'm going to try switching out the HD with a spare from somewhere and see what happens.
 
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zephead99

Guest
Turns out it was a dead HD. After replacing it with a spare i was able to quickly boot to the osX install cd. Thanks for your ideas everyone.
 

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